1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector with terminal retaining means for reliably and quickly positioning terminals therein.
2. Description of Prior Art
A variety of mating connectors employ pairs of interengaging terminals for connecting conductive wires to other circuit elements through the mated connectors. The terminal pairs may be pin and socket terminals. Conventionally, terminals are assembled in an array of passageways of a dielectric housing of the connector. Each terminal is inserted into a corresponding passageway along a longitudinal axis of the passageway and retaining means integrally formed on the terminal securely retain the terminal therein.
Properly retaining the terminals in position within the passageways of such housings is problematic. Instability of the terminals results in terminal movement within the housing, particularly in transverse or angular directions with respective to the longitudinal axes of the passageway. Transverse or angular movement of a terminal causes terminal-to-terminal misalignment between complementary connectors, which may damage one or both of the mating terminals thereby resulting in partial or incomplete electrical connection. It is readily understood that pin and receptacle terminals must be properly positioned, stabilized and centered in order to accurately mate with corresponding receptacle and pin terminals. Such positioning is becoming more critical with the increasing miniaturization of electrical connectors.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,969 (hereinafter referred to as the '969 patent) discloses an electrical connector adapted for connecting a conductor of an electrical wire to a terminal of a mating connector. The '969 patent discloses a pair of elongate slots defined in a wall by a cavity of a dielectric housing. The terminal is provided with a free end portion which can be tightly received within the slots. By this arrangement, the terminal inserted into the cavity is prevented from transverse or angular movement. However, the structure of both the cavity and terminal is complicated.
In addition, when the engaging area of a mating pair of terminals increases, the force between the increases correspondingly. Therefore, larger terminals having larger contacting areas experience larger forces during mating. Thus, reduction of these forces during mating between larger terminals is desired.